The Plain Dealer's Doug Lesmerises has the scoop on the Ohio State student athlete drug-testing policy:
According to Ohio State's drug-testing policy, any player who tests positive a second time faces an automatic two-game suspension, while any player testing positive a third time is suspended for an entire season and could have his scholarship revoked.
The current system is in place after a series of high profile arrests and altercations, including kicker Jonathan Skeete doing his best Bam Morris, a few years ago. Ohio State announced a more comprehensive testing program in the spring of 2005, which included random drug tests. Prior to this expansion, players were tested once per year.
What's interesting is that it's thought that Clifford's suspension for the LSU game was for enjoying the bud, so to speak, and that was only a one-gamer. Do MNC games count for double a regular season game?
Difficult decisions aheadAlso, is it safe to assume that the punishment for a first offense is held internally without any impact on game time?
If the rumors and the assumptions made above are correct, Clifford could well be looking at his third offense and a suspension for the entire season with the possibility of having his scholarship snatched.
Washington would be in line to receive a two-game suspension and O'Neal is looking at the same or less. This is all based off some more assumptions I'm making, such as the fact that Washington was busted for the same thing in late December, but it was a first, rather than second offense -- hence his availability for the game.
Of course, we may never know the specifics, and maybe that's the way it ought to be. But, from player quotes and Tressel's own quotes, some form of punishment is in the pipeline for these three guys.
I can empathize with them -- just imagine for a second if thousands knew whenever you screwed something big up. The Vest will be firm and fair, but he's also the anti-Woody. For transgressions as trivial as the alleged offenses, that's a good thing.
